Overview

Although called a nativity, this painting lacks the manger, ox, and ass traditionally
found in scenes of Christ's birth. It would be better interpreted as a mystical
adoration of saints. John the Baptist, Catherine of Alexandria, and the Virgin are
in the foreground. From left to right standing behind them are Sebastian, pierced
with arrows; the pilgrim James Major; Joseph, the husband of Mary; and the pilgrim
Roch. Soaring through the heavens is God the Father accompanied by a phalanx of
putti.

Commissioned by a member of the Baciadonne family of Genoa, this large altarpiece
is the most important religious painting by Perino del Vaga to survive. Perino had
been a pupil of Raphael in Rome, and his indebtedness to his master is evident here
in the idealization of the figures and the grace of the postures. Like others of
his generation, however, Perino departed from Raphael's serene harmonies to instill
in his works a greater degree of tension and artifice. In this altarpiece the studied
gestures hang in the air as if to function in the place of speech. Poses seem choreographed
and, in several instances, tipped off balance. Rich colors glow phosphorescently
with a stained-glass intensity out of the oddly dark morning.

[1] According to G.F. Waagen, Art Treasures of Great Britain, 1854, II:233. The painting was lent by Dudley to the 1857 Manchester exhibition.

[2] Annotated sales catalogue, copy in NGA curatorial files.

[3] See the copy of a receipt in NGA curatorial files. It is undated, but may be placed in 1947, or at the latest 1948, on the basis of its location in the Cook Collection Archive in care of John Somerville, England. Volterra was Contini-Bonacossi's agent in London.

[4] The Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini-Bonacossi on 4 March 1949 for a group of twenty-one paintings, including a "Pierin del Vaga Altar Piece;" the offer was accepted on 10 March 1949 (see copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files).